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Stocks Fall Pre-Bell as US-Iran Tensions Escalate; Key Inflation Data on Deck

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Stocks Fall Pre-Bell as US-Iran Tensions Escalate; Key Inflation Data on Deck

The main US stock measures were pointing lower in Wednesday's premarket activity as tensions escalate between the US and Iran, while traders await a key consumer inflation report.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.7% each before the opening bell, while the Nasdaq was off 1%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished Tuesday trading in the red, while the Dow closed higher.

In a social media post early Wednesday, President Donald Trump said that the Iranian military has been "completely defeated."

"They've taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price," Trump wrote.

Iran launched strikes against several US military facilities and bases in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait early Wednesday, Bloomberg reported, citing Iranian media.

In a Tuesday post on X, the US Central Command said its forces launched "self-defense" strikes against Iran in retaliation against Tehran for shooting down a US military helicopter.

Trump said on social media that the two pilots on the helicopter were "safe and uninjured," and that the US would respond to the attack. Iran's Mehr news agency reported that several explosions were heard on Qeshm Island, in the Bandar Abbas region of southern Iran, as well as along the southern coast, according to Bloomberg News.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil slipped 0.3% to $87.94 a barrel in premarket action, while Brent edged down 0.4% to $91.08.

"Cumulative losses have now reached 1 billion barrels and are on track to nearly double by year-end under our base case, which still assumes a narrow US-Iran deal in June and a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz from mid-July," Aditya Saraswat, Middle East and North Africa research director at Rystad, said in a Tuesday note.

The consumer price index report for May is scheduled for an 8:30 am ET release. Official data are expected to show that consumer inflation rose 4.2% annually and 0.5% on a sequential basis, according to a Bloomberg-compiled consensus.

Treasury yields were mixed before the open, with the two-year rate increasing 0.3 basis points to 4.13% while the 10-year rate retreated 0.4 basis points to 4.52%.

Wednesday's economic calendar also has the weekly mortgage applications bulletin and the weekly EIA domestic petroleum inventories report.

Shares of Super Micro Computer (SMCI) dropped 11% pre-bell after the company disclosed a $7 billion equity financing plan to support its artificial intelligence order backlog. Casey's General Stores (CASY) inclined 1.8% after reporting better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results.

Oracle (ORCL) is expected to report its latest financial results after the markets close, while Core & Main (CNM) and Chewy (CHWY) post earnings before the bell, among others.

Gold decreased 2.2% to $4,194 per troy ounce, while bitcoin slipped 1% to $61,251.

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